The preparation of individual state and federal income tax returns is an annual occurrence of great importance to the individual taxpayer as well as to the federal government and the various state governments. Each year, millions of taxpayers meet with a tax return preparer for the purpose of providing relevant tax information needed in the preparation of the tax return. For convenience, this tax information is frequently provided to the tax preparer by mail or other form of delivery. When this occurs, the tax preparer typically first asks for and receives a copy of the individual's tax return for the previous year. This permits the tax preparer to solicit the relevant tax information for the current year in a form using a format specifically designed for the individual taxpayer.
In recent years, taxing authorities have increasingly automated the tax collecting and tax return filing process. In particular, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has instituted a system for the electronic filing of tax return data. In conjunction with that system, the IRS has arranged to pay refunds by electronic funds transfer using the United States' Treasury automated clearing house (ACH) origination system. While this has greatly improved the tax filing and refund process it still requires a period of three to six weeks from the filing of an individual's tax return to the time of receipt of a refund check. In contrast, the system of the invention shortens the time from filing to receipt of a refund to as little as one day. There is still a growing need, however, for a more comprehensive on-line system that facilitates the tax-filing process.